Archive for the ‘Rimac Concept One’ Category

Between destroying the conventional lineup of supercars in various acceleration tests and, uh, being destroyed by Richard Hammond in a fiery hill climb crash, the Rimac Concept One has garnered huge attention for itself over the past few years. Now, Rimac Autombili is once again gearing up for a flurry of attention, as the Croatian brand just dropped a new teaser for its second-gen ground-bound spaceship.

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The Full Story

First put into production in 2013, the Rimac Concept One is the brand’s very first offering. With production limited to just eight units total, each of which carries a price tag around the $1 million mark, these things are as rare and expensive as they are fast.

And man, are they fast. Thanks to a set of four high-powered electric motors, one per wheel, the Concept One manages to lay down an impressive 1,072 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque, which is enough to slingshot the two-door to 62 mph in just 2.6 seconds, 124 mph in 6.2 seconds, and 186 mph in 14.2 seconds. It’ll also top out at 221 mph.

As a reminder, the Concept One competes with the likes of the Nio EP9, as well as the Tesla Roadster 2.0 (or at least it will, once the Tesla finally makes it into full production status).

This thing is simply absurdly fast, and it looks good too, like some low-slung, ultra-wide, inter-dimensional planet-hopper. Indeed, we consider the Rimac Concept One to be a guiding light when it comes to our collective all-electric performance future. And that’s why we’re standing up and paying attention now that Rimac is teasing us with its second model.

“Indeed, we consider the Rimac Concept One to be a guiding light when it comes to our collective all-electric performance future. And that's why we're standing up and paying attention now that Rimac is teasing us with its second model.”

The video is short, with just 22 seconds of footage to go off, and although the images are cast in shadows and broken up with a digital light show, it does give us a decent look at the general outline we should expect from the model.

For starters, there’s a swooping coupe roof line, with huge fenders front and back (but especially in front). The wheels are equally enormous, while the front deck is long and low, including a prominent vent element up top.

Towards the end, we also get a somewhat clear shot of the front fascia, which, compared to the first-generation model, looks to include a larger central intake set in black, reshaped headlights set at a more acute angle to the ground, and larger side intakes.

All told, we’re stoked to see what Rimac has in store for us. Luckily we won’t have to wait long to get more details, as the next-gen will drop this March at the Geneva Motor Show.

The second season of The Grand Tour is now underway. If you didn’t get to watch the first episode, you missed one hell of a beatdown. Administering the walloping was none other than the Rimac Concept One. The recipients? The Lamborghini Aventador S and the Honda NSX. If you haven’t seen the video, here’s your chance to watch it and see just how inexplicably fast the Croation electric hypercar really is. But if you’re a fan of either the Aventador or the NSX, you might want to turn away now. It doesn’t end well for both supercars.

To be fair, this race wasn’t really much of a contest, to begin with. Even on paper, the Concept_One had all the important advantages. It has 1,224 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque at its disposal, allowing it to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds before “settling” on a top speed of 220 mph. On the flip side, the Lamborghini Aventador S tops at just 730 horsepower and 508 pound-feet of torque. It’s nowhere near what the Concept_One is capable of, but it’s still quick enough to hit 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds on its way to a top speed of 217 mph. Then there’s the Honda NSX, which pumps out 573 horsepower and 476 pound-feet of torque, allowing it to cover 0 to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds before peaking at a top speed of 190 mph.

In the context of the drag race, the important number to remember is the torque produced by these cars. Safe to say, it’s not even close. The Concept_One has double the amount of torque that the Aventador and NSX have. In fact, if you add the torque numbers of the two supercars, it still wouldn’t come close to approaching what the Concept_One’s four electric motors are capable of unleashing.

The result of the drag race speaks for itself. Richard Hammond was behind the wheel of the Concept_One (we know how that turned out), and he simply blew past Jeremy Clarkson in the Aventador S and James May in the NSX. The collective look on their faces is priceless too. Hammond was at a loss for words and Clarkson was his typical flustered self. Then again, the Rimac Concept_One has that effect on a lot of people, car show presenters included.

Despite being limited to just eight units, the Rimac Concept_One electric supercar served notice to the industry. It has 1,224 horsepower on tap, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds on its way to a top speed of 220 mph. Those are numbers that electric supercar dreams are made of, but they may pale in comparison to what Rimac is planning to serve up next. We still don’t know anything about the automaker’s plans, but it does involve a new hypercar that will make its debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. Is it really possible for Rimac to build off the success of the Concept_One with a better model? We’ll find out soon enough.

The Rimac Concept_One put a lot of people on notice. Not only did it showcase Rimac as a legitimate creator of demented hypercars, it also proved that a small automaker can succeed in a competitive market if it pushes all the right buttons. In some ways, the limited quantity of the Concept_One actually helped create a greater mystique surrounding the car. It also sent Richard Hammond to the hospital, which isn’t a good thing, but it still helped the Concept_One make the rounds across many news outlets all over the world. It’s not the kind publicity that Rimac would’ve liked, but it’s publicity nonetheless.

The new Rimac hypercar is still shrouded in mystery. We know nothing about it except for a teaser the automaker released on Facebook. The teaser doesn’t reveal much, except for the car’s silhouette. You’ll have to have a vivid imagination to piece together bits and pieces of the car from the teaser, but it does seem to have a more conventional side profile compared to the Concept_One. The swooping body lines can be traced from how the lights fall on the car. The front end looks like it has a Viper while the rear end shows a large spoiler on the trunk.

Rimac also didn’t announce power details about the new model. We can safely assume, though, that it will have more power than the Concept_One. Considering that the existing model already has 1,224 horsepower at its disposal, it’s anybody’s guess how Rimac can still improve on that number. We’ll get our answer this coming March so that’s going to be a three-month wait for a car that could make the potent Concept_One look like Bambi by comparison.

It should be noted too that Rimac’s new $36 million investment from Chinese company Camel Group could play a significant role in the development of this new electric hypercar. Camel Group is Asia’s largest battery manufacturer, so it’s not a coincidence that Rimac is now pushing for a more mainstream presence in the segment with Camel Group now in the fold.

Rimac has recently told Autoguide that it’s been working on a new, next-gen supercar that is expected to debut at some point in 2018. According to Jens Sverdup of Auto Iconica – Rimac’s distribution arm here in the States – the EV has been in the works for a few years now. When you consider the fact that the Tesla Roadster isn’t heading to production until 2018, and that the new Rimac EV will likely be much more powerful than the Concept One, it’s quite possible Rimacs new EV could dethrone the outrageously powerful Roadster before it even enters production. Oh, and to top it off, Rimac is set to open five more retailers here in the States during 2018, which will – of course – carry both the Rimac Concept One and the upcoming Rimac Convertible that is yet to be named.

Further Thinking

“If Rimac can successfully tackle the new Roadster’s specs, and can even push that EV into production faster, Musk could find himself with a Roadster nobody really wants to wait for.”

When Tesla debuted its extremely pre-production roadster, it’s pretty clear that Elon Musk was awaiting the typical buzz he gets from nearly everything he does. However, I doubt it crossed his mind that anyone else would be within striking distance considering the downright crazy specs associated with the new Roadster. After all, we’re talking about 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, 620-mile range, and a 250-mph top speed. And, let’s not forget about 10,000 nm, or 7,376 pound-feet, of torque either. That’s pretty damn hard to beat. Meanwhile, Rimac’s Concept One, which should prove to be a level down from the brand’s next EV, is positioned at 1,224 horsepower, 1,180 pound-feet, and can hit 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. If Rimac can successfully tackle the new Roadster’s specs, and can even push that EV into production faster, Musk could find himself with a Roadster nobody really wants to wait for.

What do you think? Will Rimac dethrone the Roadster before it even has a chance to take the throne? Is the upper end of the EV market becoming nothing more than a contest to see what rich kid has the longest dong? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Of all the ambitious start-ups that promised machines of mayhem, few have actually been able to step up and keep up with the rest of business. One of those companies is Rimac, the creator of the Concept One electric supercar that made headlines recently when The Grand Tour presenter Richard Hammond crashed one in Switzerland. It was an ignominious end to one of only eight road-going Concept One models, but all’s not lost in the world of Rimac after the company announced a new $36 million investment that would allow it to finally expand its lineup beyond the vaunted Concept One.

The infusion of money came from Camel Group, a Shanghai-based company that’s regarded as the largest manufacturer of batteries in all of Asia. The specific details of the deal were not mentioned by either company, but the deal is termed as a subscription agreement, which essentially means that Rimac likely agreed to sell a certain number of shares to Camel Group in exchange for a specific amount ($36 million as it turns out) that the Chinese company has agreed to pay. Of that amount, Rimac is expected to gain a majority of the funds, but not all of it. Roughly $3.6 million of the amount will be sent over to Greyp electric bicycle company. As far as what Rimac plans to do with the new funds, no less than Mate Rimac, the founder of both Rimac and Greyp, made the company’s plans clear: build a new electric supercar to succeed the Concept One.

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I’m excited for this one

You have to appreciate what Rimac has been able to do in the face of all the pressure that comes with building a car company from the ground up. A lot of companies have tried to follow the same blueprint and very few have been able to actually rise up to the occasion. Rimac has been able to do it, so it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of excitement surrounding this news.

“Rimac announced a new $36 million investment that would allow it to finally expand its lineup beyond the vaunted Concept One.”

The partnership with Camel Group is a smart one, especially if Rimac is able to leverage the Chinese battery maker’s expertise in its field and apply it into its next electric supercar. That seems to be the direction this partnership is going because Rimac founder and CEO Mate Rimac has already said that the follow-up car to the Concept One will be electric, so it’s going to use some kind of battery as part of its powertrain.

Speaking of the yet-to-be-named machine, Rimac hasn’t said what kind of power it’s going to carry, but it did hint that it’s going to be more powerful than its predecessor. Remember, the Concept One already packs a whopping 1,073 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque, good enough to propel it from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds before peaking at a reported top speed of 221 mph. If the next model is going to be more powerful than the Concept One, we could be looking at an output that will reach at least 1,200 horsepower and 1,300 pound-feet of twist.

“The Concept One already packs a whopping 1,073 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque, good enough to propel it from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds”

I don’t know how Rimac will be able to do that, but I’m well past the point of being skeptical of what the company is capable of doing. The Concept One showed me as much, and if its other plan of introducing a more powerful version of the Concept One – called the Concept One S – ever comes to fruition, well then, consider me excited to see what the company can come up with now that it has the funds to make it happen.

Last week, we took a look at our top picks for the best five hybrid sports, listing off some truly awe-inspiring gas/electric combos that proved hybridization wasn’t something to be feared by the common auto enthusiast. But while adding a big battery pack and a few electric motors might seem like a pretty sizable modification to the traditional sports car formula, there’s an even-greater change lurking just over the horizon – the pure-electric powertrain. That’s right, gasoline need not apply in this crowd, and yet, the speed potential is still enough to melt your face. This is our list of the top five all-electric performance cars.

There are plenty of benefits that electric power offers over internal combustion, especially when it comes to the business of going fast. For starters, the torque curve for an electric motor is totally flat, with maximum twist created the instant you touch the long pedal to the right. There’s also zero power loss at high altitude, a characteristic that’s particularly useful at hill climb events like Pikes Peak. What’s more, with enough motors and a little electronic wizardry, you can get away with some pretty kick ass torque vectoring dynamics. Of course, it’s not all roses – for example, the all-electric appliance noise will never beat the sound of exploding dino juice. Regardless, all-electric performance is still quite impressive. Here are five examples that prove it.

Continue reading to learn more about TopSpeed’s Top 5 All-Electric Performance Cars.

By now, you’ve probably heard that Richard Hammond was involved in a horrific crash over the weekend in Switzerland. From what’s been reported, Hammond was filming with the rest of his Grand Tour mates when he lost control of the Rimac Concept One, rolling it down a hill before landing on its roof. Hammond somehow escaped the wreckage on his own, before being helped off by Swiss paramedics. The electricsupercar, however, didn’t fare quite as well as it ended up catching fire and burning to a crisp. The specific details behind the crash have yet to be revealed, which is probably why the FIA is stepping in to get some answers.

According to Motorsport, the governing body of motorsport racing is looking for answers from Auto Sport Schweiz on what caused the crash during the Hemberg Bergrennen event over the weekend. In a statement, the Swiss federation said that the FIA “has been forced to demand an opinion” from the Federation regarding the circumstances that happened before the crash and what led Hammond to losing control of the Concept One. Auto Sport Schweiz added that disciplinary proceedings could be handed down if it determines from its own investigation that certain parties failed to adhere to the safety standards put in place during the event. Obviously, there’s a lot more to this story than what’s been revealed, so while Hammond is fortunate to have survived the accident, some heads could still roll in the coming days.

Richard Hammond is lucky to be alive after losing control and rolling a Rimac Concept One while filming the second season of The Grand Tour on Sunday in Switzerland. He was able to escape the exotic car, despite it landing on its roof, just before the rare electricsupercar burst into flames. His left knee wasn’t so fortunate, however, with it sustaining serious bone fractures. Hammond was airlifted by Swiss emergency services to a nearby hospital where doctors are preparing for surgery. Hammond seems in good spirits in a short video update shot for Drive Tribe, Hammond, Clarkson, and May’s website. “Yes, it’s true,” Hammond says in the video. “I’ve binned it. Again.” Holding his X-ray, he says doctors are preparing to turn his knee into a “Swiss Army Knee.”

This isn’t the first time The Hamster has “binned” a vehicle while filming. In 2006 while shooting for Top Gear, Hammond suffered a brain injury when he lost control of a rocket-powered dragster. A speedy recovery allowed him to return to filming a few months later alongside Clarkson and James May. Thankfully, Hammond’s knee injury is far less life-threatening, and will hopefully require even less time to recover. We’ll bring you more news as it develops.

So, did you guys fall in love with the Rimac Concept_Oneelectricsupercar? Well, if you did, you better fasten those seatbelts because the Croation automaker is planning to make a follow-up to the 1,088-horsepower supercar. No less than Rimac Automobili’s COO Monika Mikac confirmed the news to CarBuzz, saying that the company plans to develop “a new car in the future, also in the luxury segment—really exclusive and even more high-performance than the Concept One.”

Mikac added that the new model will be super limited with the expected allocation being “around 20 units per year.”

No details were mentioned regarding the follow-up to the Concept_One, but considering what the current electric supercar is already capable of, it should be easy to anticipate a faster and more powerful version than the company’s incumbent performance machine. Remember, in addition to producing 1,088 horsepower on electric power alone, the Concept_One also boasts torque figures in the neighborhood of 1,180 pound-feet. Together, those numbers help the Concept_One sprint from 0 to 62 mph in just 2.6 seconds to go with a top speed of 221 mph.

If there’s truth to Mikac’s comments, we can expect the follow-up model to eclipse those numbers. It will likely cost more than the $1.2 million Rimac was asking per unit of the eight-piece Concept_One and the $1.6 million price tag of the $1.6 million Concept_One S. We’ll let your imaginations take it from here.

In the meantime, deliveries of the $1.6 million Concept_One are expected to begin in March with more owners getting theirs shortly thereafter. According to Mikac, most of the available Concept_One supercars are already pre-sold and that the first car is already expected to make its way to its American owner in the coming days.

The Ferrari LaFerrari may be considered one of the top hybrid hypercars in the market today, but even Ferrari’s current 963-horsepower crown jewel is not immune to getting humbled once in awhile. The latest to put the LaFerrari in its place is the Rimac Concept One, a Czech electric supercar that packs an astonishing 1,072 horsepower and 1,180 pound-feet of torque from no less than four electric motors, each with its own gearbox.

Recently, the folks from Archie Hamilton Racing lined up the Concept One hypercar against the LaFerrari and the Tesla Model S to see how it would fair against the two models, first in a torque-filled launch off the block and then in a sprint to a quarter-mile. The Model S with Ludicrous Mode went first and it just wasn’t much of a contest as the Concept One quickly left it in behind. As awesome as the Tesla S, it’s just not on the same performance level as the Concept One, and that’s already taking into account the Tesla’s 0-to-60-mph time of 2.8 seconds.

Then it was the LaFerrari’s turn, in which case the result turned out to be the same. The Ferrari put up a better fight than the Tesla, but ultimately, the Concept One pulled away comfortably, validating the Czech electric hypercar 0-to-60-mph time of 2.6 seconds and 221-mph top speed.

Some people may still not be familiar with the Rimac Concept One and that’s understandable. But let this video be your introduction to this new road terror coming out of the Czech Republic.

It feels like ages since Rimac Automobili first announced their innovative all-electric hypercar, the Rimac Concept One. Now though, the concept has completed the transition to reality and the final production version will make its debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show.

The Rimac Concept One you’ll be able to buy soon is pretty much identical to the popular concept version. The car has the presence of a full-blooded hyper car, but a sophisticated one, and the powertrain is still as mind-bogglingly powerful.

The setup is familiar and rather simple. You get four permanent magnet electric motors, one for each wheel, located in the centre of both axles. This results in a perfect weight distribution and extremely low centre of gravity, which is handy when you have 1,088 horsepower and 1,600 Nm of torque to play with. In order to contain that massive oomph, Rimac Concept One benefits from a super clever Rimac All Wheel Torque Vectoring (R-AWTV) system which precisely calculates the optimum torque for each wheel.

Performance-wise, the Concept One sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2,6 seconds and, to 200 km/h in 6,2 and to 300 km/h in 14,2 seconds. As for the range, the juice is provided by a battery pack designed to deliver 1000 kW or 1MW of power during acceleration and to absorb 400 kW during braking (carbon ceramic discs). While Rimac does not give a number in terms of miles or kilometers, they say the pack “holds sufficient energy for an acceptable range.”

It is not just the technology and performance where Rimac Concept One blows you away with its super specifications. The car is also a super deluxe posemobile with a luxury interior and cool features such as a drift mode and 4G internet. Sadly they are only making 8 Concept Ones which means it’s going to be bloody expensive – definitely more than the $980K they proposed years ago.

The horsepower wars have yielded some pretty outrageous things over the years, with the latest breed of cutting-edge, go-fast machinery sporting specs and figures more in line with spacecraft or aircraft than ground-bound vehicles with four wheels. Even when running off batteries alone, the technology in play these days can be positively awe-inspiring. Case in point: the 2015 Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One, seen here laying down some extreme power on the dyno.

The video kicks off with quick shots of the car coming together at the hands of Rimac Automobili’s team of engineers, before the whole thing is strapped down for a blast on the rollers. Following this, you’ll see the E-Runner squat and go, while a shrill, hyper-powered turbine whine crescendos with the increasing wheel speed. You almost half expect to see the thing jump into hyperspace.

The result? One megawatt of output, or roughly 1,340 horsepower.

Not bad for a blender. The E-Runner is slated to appear at the 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb later this month, where it will compete under the Electric Class category for the famous Race to the Clouds.

Behind the wheel will be Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima, an iconic driver in the motorsport world who also owns Monster Sport, the shop that built the E-Runner in conjunction with Rimac Automobili.

With about twice the output of last year’s car and a slew of new technology, the new E-Runner is expected to demolish last year’s time of 9 minutes, 43.09 seconds (the current Electric Class benchmark is 9 minutes, 8.188 seconds, as set last year by Greg Tracy in the 2014 Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution III). And with no power loss due to the high altitude, expect the mega-EV to be mighty competitive with the dino-juice burners as well.

Look for the E-Runner to make its appearance in Colorado on June 28th.

Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima, arguably one of the quickest drivers the world has seen, is returning to the 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with the Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One. Developed and built by Nobuhiro’s own shop, Monster Sport, in cooperation with Rimac Automobili, a Croatian manufacturer known for the Concept Oneelectricsupercar, the E-Runner Concept_One is set to become the most powerful EVs to race at Pikes Peak.

The project brings together not only “Monster” Tajima’s storied experience with the “Race to the Clouds,” but also Rimac’s state-of-the-art drivetrain technology, including its All Wheel Torque Vectoring System and small and light, but still efficient battery pack. Their goal is quite ambitious: to break the previous track record for electric vehicles.

“We are quite confident that Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One will break previous year’s record. He is a great driver with tons of experience. With the support of our best engineers and technicians, our technology, powertrain, battery-system and Torque Vectoring, he will be able to push the boundaries of electric race cars to a whole new level,” said Rimac founder Mate Rimac.

The 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is scheduled to take place on June 28th. Until then, let’s have a closer look at the E-Runner Concept_One.

Continue reading to learn more about the Tajima Rimac E-Runner Concept_One.